Making Co-teaching Successful
We are in a period of online learning - again. I think this is the third or fourth time that the whole school has gone online during this pandemic.
When we first started teaching online, I was a homeroom teacher. My role was very straightforward. Since then I have moved to a support role as PYP Learning Support and Technology Coach. With this new role, I have more flexibility to join lessons as needed, but I find that since I am not in planning sessions with teachers (something I am pushing for) I can be called at any time to help with a lesson. When it is simply to be another adult in the room, there is not much need to go over things. But when I am being asked to co-teach a lesson, I can sometimes rush into it without fully knowing what the lesson is about.
Yeah, I get excited to help others.
But today I went to a lesson and it was just an OK lesson. This was because I didn't have time to prepare and think through what I was going to be doing. I was given a lesson outline then a little while later I was to deliver.
It didn't help that this lesson was online.
After the lesson, I was reflecting on how it could have been better since this situation will happen again -- online or in person. I came up with a few simple things my teachers and I could do before we teach together.
Develop a relationship with your co-teacher
- Co-plan
- Co-prepare
- Practice together before a lesson
- Reflect together
It looks very obvious, but unless it is made into a norm -- a part of the school's culture, it can be tricky to put into practice.